COCA COINAGE. 



395 



length gratified, lie devoted himself to his new 

 duties with the energy by which through life he 

 had been characterised ; and, with the single excep- 

 tion of a tour to Ireland (undertaken for the pur- 

 pose of seeing with his own eyes the state of things 

 in a country which had afforded so fertile a field 

 for political controversy), he suffered no other 

 public engagement to occupy his mind. His parlia- 

 mentary career, however, displayed little of the 

 originality which was looked for from the author 

 f the " Political Register," and was on the whole 

 marked by a calmness and moderation hardly to be 

 expected. His manner was colloquial and un- 

 affected ; and on several occasions he made con- 

 siderable impression on the house. At the general 

 election which followed Sir Robert Peel's acces- 

 sion to the helm of power, he was again returned 

 to Oldham, and resumed his duties in the new 

 parliament, but soon after he was seized with in- 

 flammation of the throat, of which he died in June 

 1835, aged, as it is calculated, seventy-three. He 

 left four sons and three daughters. He had seven 

 other children, who died young. 



Some of Mr Cobbett's publications have been 

 already mentioned. His other works (besides poli- 

 tical pamphlets) were, " The Emigrant's Guide," 

 in ten letters ; " Cobbett's Poor Man's Friend ;" 

 "Cottage Economv ;" "Rural Rides;" "Village 

 Sermons ," " An English Grammar," in letters to 

 his son ; " A Grammar to teach Frenchmen the 

 English Language;" "A Translation of Marten's 

 Law of Nations ;" " A Year's Residence in 

 America;" "Parliamentary History of England to 

 1803," in twelve volumes; and "Debates from 

 1803 to 1810," in sixteen volumes, royal octavo. 

 When to these are added " Porcupine's Worjcs " 

 in the United States, from 1793 to 1801, in twelve 

 volumes, and the " Political Register " from 1802, 

 a due estimate may be made of the extraordinary 

 quantity of matter which he passed through the 

 press. 



COCA, a plant of South America, from six to 

 eight feet high, somewhat like a blackthorn, which 

 it resembles in its numerous small white blossoms, 

 and the lively bright green of the leaves. These 

 leaves, which are gathered and carefully dried, are 

 an article of brisk trade, and the use of them is as 

 old as the first knowledge of the history of Peru. 

 It is a stimulant, which acts upon the nerves in 

 the same manner as opium. Unhappily, the use of 

 it has degenerated into a vice which seems incur- 

 able. The Indians of America, especially those of 

 the Peruvian Andes, notwithstanding the civiliza- 

 tion which surrounds them, have a vague sense of 

 their own incurable deficiency, and hence they are 

 eager to relieve themselves, by violent excitements, 

 from such melancholy feelings. This accounts, 

 not only for the use of the coca, but also for the 

 boundless love of spirituous liquors, which possesses 

 scarcely any other people in the world in an equal 

 degree. To the Peruvian, the coca is the source 

 of the highest gratification ; for under its influence 

 his usual melancholy leaves him, and his dull im- 

 agination presents him with images which he never 

 enjoys in his usual state of mind. If it cannot en- 

 tirely produce the terrible feeling of over-excite- 

 ment that opium does, yet it reduces the person 

 who uses it to a similar state, which is doubly 

 dangerous, because, though less in degree, it is of 

 far longer duration. This effect is not perceived 

 until after continued observation ; for a new comer 

 is surprised indeed at the many disorders to which 



the men of many classes of the people are subject 

 in Peru, but is very far from ascribing them to the 

 coca. A look at a determined coquero gives the 

 solution of the phenomenon ; unfit for all the seri- 

 ous concerns of life, such a one is a slave to his 

 passion, even more than the drunkard, and exposes 

 himself to far greater dangers to gratify his propen- 

 sity. As the magic power of the herb cannot be 

 entirely felt, till the usual concerns of daily life, 

 or the interruptions of social intercourse, cease to 

 employ the mental powers, the genuine coquero 

 retires into solitary darkness or the wilderness, as 

 soon as his longing for this intoxication becomes 

 irresistible. When night, which is doubly awful 

 in the gloomy forest, covers the earth, he remains 

 stretched out under the tree which he has chosen ; 

 without the protection of a fire near him, he listens 

 with indifference to the growling of the ounce ; 

 and when, amid peals of thunder, the clouds pour 

 down torrents of rain, or the fury of the hurricane 

 uproots the oldest trees, he regards it not. In two 

 days he generally returns, pale, trembling, his eyes 

 sunk, a fearful picture of unnatural indulgence. 

 He who has once been seized with this passion, and 

 is placed in a situation that favours its development, 

 is a lost man. 



COCKERMOUTH; a borough and market-town 

 in the county of Cumoerland, situated twenty-six 

 miles S.W. from Carlisle, at the mouth of the 

 Cocker, which divides it into two halves immedi- 

 ately before its junction with the Darwent. A 

 bridge of one arch unites the two divisions. The 

 Darwent flows on the north of the town, and a 

 bridge of two arches connects the hamlet of Goat, 

 which lies on the north side of the Darwent, with 

 Cockermouth. The trade of this place is con- 

 siderable, particularly in cottons, linens, and wool- 

 len goods, for all of which there are extensive manu- 

 factories in the town or its immediate neighbour- 

 hood. It is also noted for its excellent tanworks, 

 and its extensive manufacture of hats. This town 

 has enjoyed the privilege of representation since 

 the year 1840; and even by the Reform Bill, it still 

 sends two members to parliament, although its 

 population in 1841 was only 4941. Were popula- 

 tion the rule of right in this matter, Glasgow, by 

 the same ratio, would send a hundred members. 



CODEINE, a vegetable alcali, discovered in 

 opium by Robiquet. It is soluble in water, bitter, 

 and narcotic ; but loses much of its energy by com- 

 bination with acids. Its salts, however, in large 

 doses, produce excitement, followed by depression 

 and general itching. Codeine has been employed 

 on the continent as an 'anodyne with success ; but 

 it occurs in too small quantity ever to be exten- 

 sively used. It is certainly one of the active prin- 

 ciples of opium. 



COINAGE (a.) The condition of the country 

 in regard to the coined money in circulation during 

 the early years of the present century was exceed- 

 ingly unsatisfactory. Of silver coin issued from 

 the Mint there was scarcely any. The shillings 

 and sixpences that passed from hand to hand by 

 common consent were almost all of them blank 

 j/ieces of silver, intrinsically worth less than hall 

 the sums at which they were current. Guineas, 

 half-guineas, and gold pieces of t^e value of seven 

 shillings, were occasionally seen; but the rapid ad- 

 vance in the market-price of gold, at length effec- 

 tually drove all coins of that metal from circulation. 

 The place of guineas was supplied by bank notes, of 

 the denominations of one and two pounds; and, 1o 



